subject: The Difference Between Plants And Animals [print this page] All living things must cat, and breathe, in order to live. It is by asking these questions: How does it cat? anil how does it breathe? that we are able to tell the difference between plants and animals. The biggest difference is that plants can make their own food out of air and water, aided by sunlight. Animals cannot. Therefore animals must get their food by eating plants, or by eating other animals that get their food by eating plants. Plants "breathe in" a gas called carbon Jioxu/e from the air and "breathe out" the gas called oxygen.
Animals breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide. Thus they help each other to live. That explains, too, why the air is so pure and fresh in the country, wheremany plants arc growing. The oxygen given off by the plants makes the air fresh for us. Another difference between plants and animals is in the ability to feel things, and move about. A plant cannot say, "It is too hot here; I think I'll move over there," nor can it run away when it is being hurt.
Most animals, even the simplest ones, can move toward what they want, and away from something dangerous or unpleasant, even though running away may merely consist of closing a shell tightly, or rolling up like a ball. There arc times when it is hard to tell whether the living organism is a plant or an animal, and at times even the scientists cannot classify them as one or the other. Perhaps the simplest way to put it is to say that some living things are partly plant and partly animal, not entirely either one. Now let us see how the various animals are classified, or how they are named.
